Theodore keller



T. KELLER.

CHANGEABLE SIGN.

APPLICATION FILED JULY3. 1922.

Reissued Sept. 12, 1922. 15,454.

2 SHEETSSHE.ET 1- lhVehZm. Theodore Keller 7 J T. KELLER.

CHANGEABLE SIGN. APPLICATION FILED niLvs. 1922.

Beissued Sept. 12, 1922.-

1 I Jays.

Reissued Sept. 12, 1922 UNITED STATES THEODORE KELLER OF NEW YORK, N.Y., ASSIG-NQR 0E ONE-EAL]? '10 MAX OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

"Re. 15,454 I PATENT OFFICE.

MICHEL,

GHANGEABLE SIGN.

-0riglna111'o. 1,411,439, dated April 4, 1922, Serial, No. 489,776,filed August 4, 1921.

reissue filed July 3, 1922. Serial No. 572,746.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, THEODORE Knman, a citizen of the United States,residin at New York city, "n the county of New ork and State of NewYork, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in ChangeableSigns, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to signs particularly useful for advertisingpurposes, of such a nature that on viewin the sign from the frontthereof a certain representation is visible when thesign is illuminatedfrom the front only, and this representation, together with anadditional one, is visible whenthe sign is illuminated fromv the rearthereof. V I v The representation visible when the illumination is fromthe front only, hereinafter called the front representation,

may bear different relation to the additional representation,hereinafter called the rear representation, and also to the combinationof these two representations, hereinafter called the completerepresentation.

. For example, the rear representation may appear as a mere addition tothe front representation in the complete representation; or in thecomplete representation the front and rear representations may bemerged, at least in part, one in the other. Furthermore, there may be anomission in either the front or rear representations, generally andpreferably in' the rear one, to correspond with the frontrepresentation, or at least apart thereof; or there may be no suchomission.

Referring to the drawings:

Figure '1 is a front plan view of my sign.

Figure 2 is a vertical cross sectional view thereof.

Figures 3, 4 and 5 show the pictures used in advertising a shoe, Figure3 showing the picture appearing on the front of the screen, igure 4showing the picture appearing on the rear of the screen, and Figure 5showin the combination of the two.

igures 6, 7 and 8 show pictures used in advertising a cigar, Figure 6showing the icture appearing on the, front of the screen, igure 7showing the picture appearing. on the rear of the screen, and Figure 8showin the combination of the two.

ferrin nates a suitable box or frameworkv having to Figures 1 and f2,1=desigan open front 2 within which my advertising cards are ositioned.The box may be closed except or thisopening, and suitably located withinthe box are illuminating devices, such as electric lamps 3 which may bealternately flashed on and off by means of any suitable flasher, whichis not shown,

duce a change in color asthe lights areflashed, or the sock on the rearpicture may be merely an outline without any coloring, and the same istrue of the representation of the trousers on the'rear picture. A shoe"7 appears as worn over the sock on the rear picture and this isgenerally so colored, that it is generally darker than the color of thesock, the color of the shoe being such that on flashing the light tomake the combination of the front and back picture. visible, the part ofthe sock within'the shoe .will become merged therein and substantiallyapparently invisible.

It is, of course, obvious that the posi-' tions of the front and rearpictures may be interchanged when so desired; that is, the pictureillustrated in Fig. 3 may be located at therear and that illustrated inFi 4 may be located at the front.

herear picture is located immediately behind the front picture in such amanner, that on flashing the lights, the two pictures will blend intoone and appear as shown on Figure 5.

It is generally best to have the rear picture .as close as possible tothe front picture and for that reason I prefer to have the front pictureon one side of the translucent sheet andthe rear picture on the rearside thereof, although if desired, a separate sheet may be used for eachpicture, thus permitting of some variations in the combined compositeicture.

In t e modification, illustrated in Figjures 6, 7 and. 8., a cigar 11appears upon the Application for i 1 as it forms no part of theinvention. The

. and 5, the front f ont picture and this may be surrounded bfy a whiteor other background 12. The

rear picture may comprise the representation of a man 13 holding alighted match 14 in his hand 15, and the background 16 may be suitablycolored as desired. Suitable wording 17 may appear upon the rear pictureand this may be done either by the addition of suitable letters, or bythe omission of the background, ifv a colored background is made use of.The rear picture is directly behind the front picture and there may bean omission 18, if desired, on the rear picture to correspond with thecigar on the front picture, so that when the lights are flashed on, thecombined picture as shown on Figure 8 will be visible. Here again,should it be found desirable, the front picture may be located at therear and vice versa, so that the picture illustrated in Fig-' ure 6 willbe the rear picture, while that illustrated in Figure 7 will be thefront picture. All or a part of the rear picture may be made opaque, asshown for example at 19 on Figure 4, so that it will appearv as a shadowon the combined picture when the illumination comes from the rear as ashadow.

The modifications described above are given merely by way of example andthe invention is not. to be considered as limited thereto, a number ofvariations being possible within the scope of my invention.

What I claim is:

1. A changeable advertising sign consisting of a casing of opaquematerial and having an open side, lights within said casing, atranslucent sheet closing said open side, a representation which iscomplete in itself but which does not include a representation of thearticle to be advertised at one side of said sheet and a representationwhich ineludes a representation of the article to be advertised andwhich is supplementary to the first mentioned representation at theother side of said sheet, only one representation being visible from thefront when the lights are out and the combination of bothrepresentations being visible from the front when the lights are on, thecombined representations when. viewed together from the front when thelights are on forming a com- 'lete clean-cut picture registering as toall 1ts parts whereby the periodic operation of the lights causes twoclean-cut pictures to be seen in alternation from the frontof the sign,one of said pictures being the representation of something which lacks afeature, said feature which is lacking in the one picture appearing inthe other picture, one of which pictures comprises a representation of athing and the other of which does not comprise the representation ofsaid thing, thereby showing alternately the representa- 66 tion of athing in operative relation t0 some other thing and then therepresentation of one of the things without the other thing.

2. A changeable advertising sign consistingof a casing of opaquematerial and having an open side, lights within said casing, atranslucent sheet closing said open side, a representation which iscomplete in itself but which doesnot include a representation of thearticle to be advertised at one side of said sheet and a representationwhich includes a representation of the article to be advertised andwhich is supplementary to the first mentioned representation at theother side of said sheet, onlyone representationbeing visible from thefront when the lights are out and the combination of bothrepresentations being visible from the front when the lights are on, oneof said representations at the part corresponding to the article to beadvertised overlapping and being at least as dark as a portion of theother representation so that when both representations are viewedtogether from the front when the lights are on, the overlapping part ofone representation seems to disappear and is blended and merged in' theoverlapping part of the other representation, the combinedrepresentations when viewed together from the front when the lights areon forming a complete clean-cut picture registering as to all its partswhereby the periodic operation of the lights causes two clean-cutpictures to be seen in alternation from the front of the sign, one ofsaid pictures being the representation of something which lacks afeature, said feature which is lacking in the one picture appearing inthe other pic ture, one of which pictures comprises a representation ofa thing and the other of which does not comprise the representation ofsaid thing, thereby showing alternately the representation of a thing inoperative relation to some other thing and then the representation ofone of the things without the other thing.

3. A thangeable advertising sign consisting of a casing of opaquemateria and having an open side, lights within said casing, atranslucent sheet closing said open side, said I translucent sheethaving a representation 11! which is complete in itself but which doesnot include a representation of the article to be advertised on thefront side thereof, and a representation which includes a representation of the article to be advertised and which is supplementaryto the first mentioned representation immediatel behind said sheet, onlythe first mentioned re resentation being visible from the front w en thelights are out and the combination of both representations being visiblefrom the all itsparts, whereby the periodic operation of the lightscause two clean out pictures to be seen in alternation from the front'ofthe sign,. one of said pictures being the representation of somethingwhich lacks the article to be advertised and the other of said picturesbeing the representation ofsaid thing supplied with the article to beadvertised in operative relation thereto.

4. A changealble advertising sign consisting of a casing of opaquematerial and having an open s1de, lights within said casing, atranslucent sheet closing said open side, said translucent sheet havinga representation which is complete in itself but which does not includea representation of the article to be advertised on the front sidethereof, and a representation which includes a representation of thearticle to be advertised and which is supplementary to the firstmentioned representation immediately behind said sheet, only the firstmentioned representation being visible from the front when the lightsare out and the combination of ear and is blended and merged in theoverappinggmrt of therear' representation the comblne representationswhen viewed together from the front when the lights are on forming acomplete clean cut picture registering, as to all its parts, whereby theperiodic operation of the lights cause two clean out pictures to be seenin alternation from the front of the sign, one of said pictures beingthe representation of something which lacks the article to be advertisedand the other of said pictures bein the representation of saidthingsupplied with the article to be advertised in o erative relationthereto. 7 T ODORE KELLER. v

